A Race Report from our Roving Reporter

CARNETHY 5 – 2007

This event seemed to be unique this year. There was no cloud. There was no rain. There was no gale-force wind. There was no horizontal sleet or snow. There was no ice underfoot. In fact there was no excuse for anything. There was however a bum bag check which threw some members into tizz and one member managed to evade this unusual event activity and even went on the hill with none at all. Tch, tch. We await the photos on the web-sites to see the evidence!

The organisation for this event is masterful, with, I presume, examples of buses from the local museum brought out especially for this event to transport all the enthusiastic runners to the start at the traditional windblown knoll in the middle of a field. Rumour has it that this was artificially positioned so the non-competitors can see the start with 500 scantily clad folk careering down and across a couple of bogs. Most went across, though there was at least one (not a CH I hasten to add) who attempted to demonstrate the unusual technique of bog-snorkelling. Such enthusiasm.

The ladies of our team need some navigation tips as their route from the bus to the knoll went straight into a silage pit and a certain F50 thought her time had come. At the club flag, she was required to stand at least 20m downwind for the rest of the day.

The crush at the first gate lived up to it’s ‘thank goodness I can get a breather now’ reputation and the queue walking up Scald Law was as mind-bending as usual. Well, this was true for the majority of the club since those club worthies of considerable skill and fitness were ahead of the common herd and had a free run. A patch of heather on this hill had been burned and tested the strength of the lower limb skin, some being rather better than others.

Ruairidh Campbell set the pace for the club followed by that 24 hour race, ‘I’m having a rest over winter so not doing much’ Richie Cunningham attempting to keep him in view. Sandy Bennet seems to have got over his niggling injuries making a club total of three on the Glory Board 2007 for those having completed the race in under the hour. Steven King and Alan Cockburn did exceptionally well on their first attempts at the race by crossing the line in under 70 minutes.

There followed a continuous rush of finishers with lots of competition for the line in the low 70,s. The most popular minutes to be finishing in with 19 for each were 66, 68 and 72 minutes. If you were not in these minutes, you were too quick or too slow.

Tea, juice and biscuits were on offer in the finish field which were very welcome and an excellent school dinner of chicken pie or veg’n option, roast pots (competitor - more please? dinner lady - WHAT!!) and veg was on offer back at the school – all included in the race fee. What more could you ask? Well, the showers were still hot so it must have been a good race!

Results are on the club site and hillbillies blog so no repetition here other than to say that there were a few first runs, PBs for some having survived previous encounters and a finish or two for those getting a little older! Team-wise of course, a well earned 7th place for the men and 9th place for the ladies.

Your roving reporter.